Snow Leopards. By Colin

Transcription

1 Snow Leopards By Colin

2 Table of Contents Page one: Introduction Page two: Chapter 1 Page Page four: Chapter 2 Page six: Chapter 3 Page eight: A family of snow leopard s Page ten: How we can help Page eleven: Conclusion Page twelve: Glossary Page fourteen: Index

3 Introduction Why are snow leopards endangered, and what is a snow leopard anyway? A snow leopard is a type of cat that lives in the big cold mountains of china and the other countries that surround it. They cannot roar, instead they make a sound called a chuff. They look a bit like this:

4 4J2uYA 6T3tJj 4wVNJk KEFGT ouvppa obnkdw 7Mr3ak 7Mv3Zq rneerp nnbehn 5kMVaU 6J4ccB 9yByGV n AZqmM KER9M ofuf1i 2MUgjw rxdp8j dzb5kh KEFGX ohkq81 dqqsbz rcaapc ofmtwa drsyea qe8xpm KER9V dygnyp nppsik ogggzj nfncz5 89DVdV 9yCSn5 rbv ugk nyogeb nasxed nk3mhv rkkjen qdftp1 ribrfa nptwf1 ozlyrj KESq4 pmn1tq KEFGR naaeec 6QaGev enac5 irjmfx 9Mghgh Picture by Kate Sumbler Chapter one The snow leopard is endangered (endangered means there are not very many of them left) for a bunch of different reasons, like poachers (poacher means an illegal hunter) hunting them. They are also endangered because of habitat loss. Habitat loss means that they lost the place where they live, like if you lost your house. They live in the big, cold mountains of china and other countries near it. They are losing their habitat because farmers are making farms in it, trees are growing in it, and miners using explosives (like TNT) and chemicals to mine in their habitat. Also sometimes farmers will hunt them too. Eating Snow leopards eat a lot of different things, but no fruits, or vegetables. They are what you would call carnivores. Carnivores are animals that eat nothing but meat, and normally if carnivores eat plants it will do nothing for them, and it could poison them. There are other types of carnivores, like lions and tigers. snow leopards eat a lot of different things, like Blue Sheep, Argali wild sheep, and Mountain Ibex. They will also sometimes eat animals that belong to a farmer which is when farmers come after them. The farmers come after them to make sure that they don t eat any more of their herd. They will also eat smaller creatures like rabbits, or marmots, but normally only if conditions are poor. Marmots are small rodents that like to burrow. They will also eat birds that they can chach. They can jump about

5 12 30 feet which is about six times their length. This would help them catch birds that are flying high in the air. Physical Abilities and Appearance snow leopards are good predators. They can jump very high, about six times their length, which enables them to jump up onto ledges where there might be sheep sitting, or some other type of prey, or jump up to catch flying birds. Also this would make it easier for them to just climb a mountain to get to a resting place, or a ledge to eat without falling. The way they are able to jump so high is with their strong hind (back) legs. Their feet are wide to distribute their weight without letting them sink into the snow and maybe get stuck, or scare off the prey that they were trying to stalk, while their long tail allows them to successfully balance without falling and provides a lot of agility too. If they are resting they will probably have it wrapped around themselves to protect themselves from the cold. The reason they have white and black fur and not yellow and black like most other leopards, is because they live in the mountains where there is almost always snow, whereas the other leopards live in grasslands where there are lots of yellow grasses which helps them blend in. Same thing with the snow leopard. It camouflages them and makes them harder to see, so that can sneak up on prey. Their fur also helps keep them warm, because it is so thick. They need it to be thick, because it is so cold where they live, and if their fur wasn t so thick then they would probably freeze to death.

6 Chapter Two Although many people hunt and kill snow leopards, many people try to save them, too. Some of the ways they do this are creating national parks, which are normally too small to have an effect on saving their habitat, but they do still have an effect, however small. Some scientists try to set up breeding programs, to increase their numbers, and to make sure if their numbers start dropping fast, or they reach a critically low level, they can release some back into the wild, sort of like insurance. They will set up these breeding programs by getting a snow leopard from the wild, or from a (different) zoo, than bringing them to the place that they plan on doing the breeding program, and then just have them mate. If they don t mate, than too bad. Go try a different pair. There are also special people who work in the national parks and around them called park rangers. They are allowed to arrest people, but it is not their main job. Their main job is to mainly just

7 make sure everyone knows the rules, and to show visitors around the park. There are also people called conservationists who try and stop things like global warming, and poachers. These people are trying to stop rural development, and miners using explosives and chemicals in their habitat. One of the ways conservationists try to stop chemicals and explosives is sometimes they can get areas protected, which means that miners can mine in them, if they have permission from the government, but they can t use explosives, or chemicals to mine. National parks One of the ways people try to protect snow leopards and their habitat is by creating national parks. The way this helps is by the fact that if you hunt in a national park you are more likely to be caught hunting there than if you were in the wild, because there would probably be a lot more people around, who might hear your loud gunshot and give you up to the park rangers, (the rules have nothing to do with it, it's illegal to hunt snow leopards anywhere) and it also makes it so that miners aren t allowed to use explosives or chemicals in it. But it does not mean that you are not allowed to mine inside them. Breeding Programs Some scientists try and set up breeding programs to try and increase the numbers of snow leopards, and just in case numbers start dropping rapidly, or numbers reach a critical low in the wild, than they can just relese some back into the wild to get numbers back up, sort of like insurance. The way they will set these up is by taking some snow leopards from a different zoo, or breeding program than take them to the place they plan on doing the breeding program, and then just wait until they have cubs. If they don t too bad for you and the rest of the species. The usual time for snow leopards to

8 mate is between January and March so if you plan on setting up a breeding program, you re probably going to need to get the snow leopards before than because if there s a delay in getting them there than you might not have both you re snow leopards until after the mating season has ended. The reason why the mating season is in the late winter and early spring is so that cubs can be born in a good season for them to develop, and normally they are born in the spring or summer so that they don t freeze to death in the winter, but just because they might freeze to death in the winter doesn t mean that they have no fur, and they are actually born with fur, but they cannot see for about a week, and so that they can grow up with lots of food for them. They typically have about one five cubs, though the average is about two three, but snow leopards in zoos have been known to have up to seven cubs. Even though it is possible for snow leopards to have seven cubs in a zoo, if they had that many cubs in the wild their mother probably wouldn t be able to find enough food for all of them and herself, so some of them might die, even though it has been reported in a zoo, this does not mean it is common, in fact it is very rare. Conservationists Conservationists are people who try and conserve the environment, animals, and their habitats. In this case they are trying to stop miners from using explosives, and chemicals in snow leopard habitat. The reason why they want to stop them from using explosives and chemicals in snow leopard habitat is because, when they set off mines and other types of explosives is because (as you may have guessed) it destroys their habitat, and if a snow leopard, or some other animal is near it might kill or seriously injure them. Also it could create landslides, or avalanches, which again could kill, or seriously injure them, and if it doesn't do any of those things then it will almost certainly take away some of their territory. One of the

9 other things conservationists will do is sometimes snow leopards will eat some animals from a farmer's herd, and then the farmer will come after the snow leopard and kill them. Conservationists are trying to stop this too. The way they do this is by, partly talking to the locals about the human leopard conflict, and partly by attempting to get areas protected, or national parks. (See above.)